I recently watched a film called ‘The Perfect Storm’, about a fishing crew on board a ship caught in a hurricane. The film was very well done – I almost felt seasick as I watched the boat go up and down as the waves crashed into it and the winds howled. It really captured the desperate nature of a few men battling all the forces of nature, and unlike many films adapted from true stories, there was no happy ending for that crew or for their loved ones left behind. The storm battered them, and they lost their lives in it.

Many of us may feel like that at the moment. We may feel we’re in a storm. We may wonder if we’ll survive this period – either because we’re afraid of the virus or because we’re not sure our mental health will endure or because we’re not sure financially we’ll be able to cope with the recession to follow. But there is a difference for us, because God is with us in the storm. Just as Jesus was in the boat with the disciples when the fierce storm came upon them and ultimately calmed that storm and protected them  (Mark 4:35-41), so too we can know that God is with us at this time, and that is what will see us through. Paul reminds us that nothing can separate us from God’s love (Rom 8:35-39). Our hope is based on all that Jesus has done for us and we trust in the fact that His sacrifice brings us back into relationship with God, a relationship that nothing at all can sever. Because of this, we have hope in every circumstance of life; we have an anchor that holds us steady.

Today, as we remember the Day of Pentecost, we can rejoice and have hope because God lives in us. He is permanently with us. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19); the Holy Spirit intercedes for us through wordless groans. (Rom 8:26) We have hope ultimately because God is with us and if God is with us, if God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:31)

Today is the day in the church calendar when we celebrate the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon believers in fulfilment of God’s word (Joel 2:28-32) in power to enable them to be God’s witnesses throughout the whole world. (Acts 2:1-13)

Energy, power and strength come from God, who gives power and strength to His people (Ps 68:34-35). We do not ultimately find the energy, power and strength we need to live for God in our own resourcefulness or entrepreneurial spirit. We find energy, power and strength in God’s Spirit, the life we now live, we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. (Gal 2:20)

So often we feel weak and feeble, powerless and afraid, but in God, weakness can be turned to strength (Heb 11:34; 2 Cor 12:9). The Christian life is not meant to be lived in our own strength but in God’s (see 1 Cor 1:18-25). Today, as we receive God’s Spirit afresh in our lives, we can receive poewr and ongoing transformation from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18)

God has given us full access to HIs endless energy and boundless strength through Jesus’ resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit. What awesome truth!

Today’s thoughts were prompted by Nicky Gumbel’s commentary in the BIble In One Year daily reading scheme.

1. Anxiety

At the moment, most of us are feeling more anxiety than usual, partly because our routines and lifestyles have had to change so rapidly. We tend to feel anxious when we feel out of control or that the future feels so uncertain. Ps 68:19-20 reminds us that the Lord ‘daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.’ We must not carry yesterday’s burden over into today or add tomorrow’s burden before we are required to bear it. God urges us to come to Him with all our burdens and we can safely leave our cares and anxiety with Him, knowing He cares for us. (Matt 11:28-30; 1 Pet 5:7)

2. Failure

We have to face the fact (as Peter did when he denied Jesus three times) that at times we fail the Lord. Failure is a heavy burden to bear, but failure was not the end of the story for Peter and doesn’t have to be the end of the story for us. Although Peter failed him, Jesus took the burden of his failure, forgave him, reinstated him and used him as powerfully as anyone in human history. We can be set free from the burden of failure.

3. Injustice

Injustice is hard to bear, and no one knows that better than Jesus, who had to endure an unjust trial and unjust sentencing. Peter tells us He could do this because ‘He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.’ (1 Pet 2:23) We too can bring the burden of injustice we may be facing to the One who judges justly and can leave the matter with Him.

4. Sin

On the cross Jesus, the innocent, died so that we, the sinful, could go free. He bore the burden of our sin so that we no longer have to live under the weight of the burden of sin. We have been set free! (Romans 6)

5. Guilt

True guilt (over sin) is removed when we confess our sin to God and accept His cleansing. (1 Jn 1:9) But often we are burdened by false guilt, feeling guilty about things that are not actually our fault. God reminds us that when our hearts condemn us, He is greater than our hearts and knows everything. (1 John 3:19-20) Freedom from guilt (real or imagined) is one of the great blessings God offers us.

One of the tremendous truths of the gospel is that we are brought into a relationship with God only through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Paul says to the Ephesians, ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.’ (Eph 2:8-9) Jesus is the very heart of the good news, and we need nothing else to be saved.

So often, however, we struggle with this great truth, and the early church was no different. Jews found it incredibly difficult to accept that salvation was available to Gentiles as well as to them and that the Gentiles no longer had to adopt Jewish practices such as circumcision or obey Jewish laws in order to be saved. Jewish groups frequently caused Paul great problems on his missionary journeys, and at the start of Acts 15, we see that this had coalesced into a firm view: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” (Acts 15:2) This question went to the heart of the gospel and brought them into sharp dispute with Paul and Barnabas, who were appointed to go to Jerusalem to discuss this matter with the apostles and elders there. (Acts 15:2-4)

It’s thought that Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians at around the same time as this, and in that letter, he talks a lot about the problems caused by this ‘circumcision group,’ declaring that they were effectively preaching another gospel, ‘which is really no gospel at all.’ (Gal 1:7) He was adamant that neither circumcision nor anything else connected to Jewish law was needed for salvation: ‘We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.’ (Gal 2:15-16) This conclusion took time to work out (as we will see in our future studies of Acts 15), but it remains at the heart of the gospel, and one of the things of which we frequently need reminding.

It can be difficult and painful to let go of years of tradition and teaching – or at least to see things in a new light; none knew that better than Paul himself, who had persecuted the church because of his zeal for Judaism. But every time we are tempted to add ‘and’ to Jesus (e.g. Jesus and tradition, Jesus and circumcision, Jesus and good works), we need to stop and remember that He is the sole source of our salvation. We need nothing else.

One of the most amazing mysteries of life is that God chooses to work through us, through ordinary people who regularly sin and fall. There is a balance here, that it is God working, but we are involved in partnership as well! (Phil 2:12-13, Gal 2:20) We can only stand amazed at God’s grace in allowing us to be called His co-workers (1 Cor 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1).

On their return to Syrian Antioch, Paul and Barnabas ‘gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them.’ (Acts 14:27; see also Acts 15:4) We have seen glimpses of this in Luke’s accounts of Paul’s preaching and prayers for healing, and it must have been fascinating to be in that meeting, hearing all about God’s work. We do well to take the time to listen to accounts of all that God is doing in the world (it’s always good to hear testimonies from Fredrick and Reeba in India, for example, but it’s good to keep our ears attuned to the wonderful stories from our communities and from around the world) and to marvel at how Christ is in us, working through us and doing great things.

When we finally get to meet together in person again, let’s be willing to share what God has been doing and saying while we have been apart. So often, we don’t notice this because we take for granted what God does or we think it’s not big enough to share… but our testimonies can encourage others as we realise God is always with us and always working for our good.